United States Air Force Specialty Code
='AIR FORCE SPECIALTY CODE'= The Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) is an alphanumeric code used by the United States Air Force to identify an Air Force Specialty (AFS). Officer AFSCs consist of four characters and Enlisted AFSCs consist of five characters. A letter prefix or suffix may be used with an AFSC when more specific identification of position requirements and individual qualifications is necessary. The AFSC is similar to the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) used by the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps or enlisted ratings and USN officer designators and USCG officer specialities used by the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard. 'History' After the Air Force separated from the Army in 1947, it retained the Army's system of MOS occupation codes, modifying them in 1954. These were 5-digit codes; for example a maintenance data systems specialist was 39150 and a weather technician was 25170. In October 1993, the Air Force implemented a new system of AFSCs, aligning occupations with the forcewide restructuring that was implemented under Merrill McPeak. These reduced officer AFSCs from 216 to 123 and enlisted AFSCs from 203 to 176. 'Enlisted AFSCs' The enlisted AFSC consists of five alphanumeric characters: * Career group (Numerical) *# Operations *# Logistics *# Support *# Medical *# Professional *# Acquisition *# Special Investigations *# Special Duty Identifiers, typically used for Airmen chosen for specialized jobs *# Reporting Identifiers, typically used for Airmen in transitive status: trainees, awaiting retraining, prisoner, etc. * Career field (Alpha, different for each) * Career field subdivision (Numerical, different for each) * Skill level ** 1 – Helper (recruits or retrainees in technical school) ** 3 – Apprentice (technical school graduates applying and expanding their job skills) ** 5 – Journeyman (experienced Airmen functioning as front-line technicians and initial trainers) ** 7 – Craftsman (Airmen with many years of experience in the specialty, responsible for supervision and training) ** 9 – Superintendent (Airmen in the grade of Senior Master Sergeant and above, with at least 14 years of experience, responsible for broad supervision) ** 0 – Chief Enlisted Manager (CEM) (Airmen in the grade of Chief Master Sergeant responsible for policy and direction on a broad scale, from the individual squadron to HQ USAF levels) * Specific AFSC (Numeric, specialty within career field subdivision) For example, in the AFSC 1N371: * The career group is 1 (Operations) * The career field is N (Intelligence) * The career field subdivision is 3 (Cryptography Linguistics) * The skill level is 7 (Craftsman) * The specific AFSC is 1 (Crypto-Linguist Specializing in a Germanic Language) For some specialties, an alpha prefix is used to denote a special ability, skill, qualification or system designator not restricted to a single AFSC (such as "X" for an aircrew position). Additionally, an alpha suffix (a “shredout”) denotes positions associated with particular equipment or functions within a single specialty (an Afrikaans specialist in the Germanic linguist field would have an "E" shredout). Using the above example, the AFSC X1N371E would refer to a Germanic Cryptologic Linguist who is aircrew qualified and specializes in Afrikaans. Here is an extended listing of AFSC groups. Most categories have numerous actual AFSCs in them. Below is the list of acceptable AFSCs for enlisted player characters. 'Operations' * 1A - Aircrew Operations ** 1A1X1 - Flight Engineer ** 1A2X1 - Aircraft Loadmaster ** 1A6X1 - Flight Attendant * 1B - Cyberspace Defense ** 1B4X1 - Cyberspace Defense * 1C - Command and Control ** 1C0X2 - Aviation Resource Management ** 1C1X1 - Air Traffic Control ** 1C2X1 - Combat Control ** 1C3X1 - Command Post ** 1C4X1 - Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) * 1N - Intelligence ** 1N0X1 - Operations Intelligence ** 1N3X1 - Cryptologic Language Analyst * 1T - Aircrew Protection ** 1T0X1 - Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) ** 1T2X1 - Pararescue 'Support' * 3D - Cyberspace Support ** 3D0X2 - Cyber Systems Operations ** 3D0X4 - Computer Systems Programming * 3E - Civil Engineering ** 3E8X1 - Explosive Ordnance Disposal * Security Forces ** 3P0X1 - Security Forces *** 3P0X1A - Military Working Dog handler *** 3P0X1B - Combat Arms Training and Maintenance 'Medical' * Medical ** 4J0X1 - Physical Medicine ** 4N1X1 - Surgical Service ** 4P0X1 - Pharmacy 'Professional' * Paralegal ** 5J - Paralegal * Chaplain Assistant ** 5R - Chaplain Assistant 'Special Investigations' * 7S - Special Investigation (OSI) 'Special Duty Identifiers' * 8A200 - Enlisted Aide * 8B000 - Military Training Instructor * 8B100 - Military Training Leader * 8D000 - Linguist Debriefer * 8F000 - First Sergeant * 8P000 - Defense Courier * 8P100 - Defense Attaché * 8R000 - Enlisted Accessions Recruiter * 8R200 - Second-Tier Recruiter * 8R300 - Third-Tier Recruiter 'Reporting Identifiers' * 9C000 - Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force * 9E000 - Command Chief Master Sergeant * 9G100 - Group Superintendent * 9J000 - Prisoner * 9L000 - Interpreter/Translator * 9S100 - Technical Applications Specialist * 9T000 - Basic Enlisted Airman * 9T100 - Officer Trainee * 9W200 - Wounded Warrior * 9W300 - Wounded Warrior-Returned to Duty * 9W400 - Wounded Warrior-Limited Assignment Status (LAS) 'Officer AFSCs' The officer AFSC consists of four alphanumeric characters: * Career Group (Numerical) ** 1 (Operations) ** 2 (Logistics) ** 3 (Support) ** 4 (Medical or Dental) ** 5 (Legal or Chaplain) ** 6 (Acquisition or Finance) ** 7 (Special Investigation) ** 8 (Special Duty Identified) ** 9 (Reporting Identifier) * Utilization Field (Numerical, different for each) * Functional Area (Alpha, different for each) * Qualification Level ** 0 – Qualified commander (when used in conjunction with “C” in the 3rd position) ** 1 – Entry (any AFSC) ** 2 – Intermediate (is only used for pilots, bomber navigators, and missile launch officers) ** 3 – Qualified (any AFSC) ** 4 – Staff (relates only to the level of functional responsibility and is restricted to positions above wing level; it does not denote additional specialty qualifications) For example, in the AFSC 11A4: * The career group is 11 (Pilot) * The functional area is A (Airlift) * The qualification level is 4 (Staff) For example, in the AFSC T63A3 * The career group is 63 (acquisition manager) * The functional are is A (all 63 officers are "A") * The qualification level is 3 (fully qualified) * The prefix "T" designates a formal training instructor (other pre-fixes are available for other specialty positions) As with enlisted AFSCs, prefixes and suffixes may be applied to make the AFSC more specific. Below is the list of acceptable AFSCs for enlisted player characters. 'Operations' * 10C0 - Operations Commander * 11BX - Bomber Pilot * 11FX - Fighter Pilot * 11GX - Generalist Pilot * 11HX - Helicopter Pilot * 11KX - Trainer Pilot * 11SX - Special Operations Pilot * 11UX - Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Pilot * 12BX - Bomber Combat Systems Officer * 12FX - Fighter Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) * 12SX - Special Operations Combat Systems Officer * 12UX - Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Pilot * 13AX - Astronaut * 13DX - Control and Recovery * 13LX - Air Liaison Officer * 13NX - Nuclear and Missile Operations * 13SX - Space Operations * 14NX - Intelligence * 15WX - Weather * 16GX - Air Force Operations Staff Officer * 16PX - Political-Military Affairs Strategist * 16RX - Planning & Programming * 17C0 - Cyber Operations Commander * 17DX - Cyberspace Operations 'Support' * 31PX - Security Forces * 35PX - Public Affairs 'Medical' * 40C0 - Medical Commander * 46FX - Flight Nurse 'Professional' * 51JX - Judge Advocate * 52RX - Chaplain 'Acquisition' * 61AX - Operations Research Analyst * 61CX - Chemist/Biologist * 61DX - Physicist/Nuclear Engineer * 62EX - Developmental Engineer * 62EXA - Aeronautical Engineer * 62EXB - Astronautical Engineer * 62EXC - Computer Systems Engineer * 62EXE - Electrical/Electronic Engineer * 62EXH - Mechanical Engineer * 64PX - Contracting 'Special Investigations' * 71SX - Special Investigator 'Special Duty Identifiers' * 80C0 - Commander, Cadet Squadron, USAFA * 81C0 - Training Commander, OTS * 81T0 - Instructor * 83R0 - Recruiting Service * 85G0 - USAF Honor Guard * 87G0 - Installation Inspector General * 88A0 - Aide-de-Camp 'Reporting Identifiers' * 90G0 - General Officer * 91C0 - Commander * 91W0 - Wing Commander * 92S0 - Student Officer Authorization * 92T0 - Pilot Trainee * 92W2 - Wounded Warrior * 92W3 - Wounded Warrior-Returned to Duty * 92W4 - Wounded Warrior-Limited Assignment Status * 92W5 - Wounded Warrior-Retired/Discharged * 92W9 - Warrior Care * 97E0 - Executive Officer 'Additional Information' During the course of their Air Force careers, Airmen sometimes switch jobs and receive multiple AFSCs to denote training in multiple specialties. A Primary AFSC (PAFSC) is the designation for the specialty in which the individual possesses the highest skill level and is, therefore, the AFSC that he or she is best qualified to perform. The Duty AFSC (DAFSC) reflects the actual manpower position the Airman is assigned to. The Control AFSC (CAFSC) is a management tool to make assignments, assist in determining training requirements, and consider individuals for promotion. Often an enlisted Airman's PAFSC will reflect a higher skill level than his or her CAFSC since the CAFSC skill level is tied to rank while the PAFSC skill level is tied to performance and education. Usually, the PAFSC, DAFSC, and CAFSC will be the same. However, situations such as retraining, special duties, or Air Force-level changes necessitate these distinctions. Additionally, Airmen that have retrained into multiple specialties will have several Secondary AFSCs (2AFSC, 3AFSC, etc.). Special Experience Identifiers (SEIs) are established to identify special experience and training. The Air Force Enlisted Classification Directory (AFECD) contains the complete list of authorized SEIs and includes designation criteria and authorized AFSC combinations. (AFI 36-2101) <<<< BACK